Practice golf putter



y 1968 A. M. GREENLEE PRACTICE GOLF PUTTER Filed Jan. 12, 1965 United States Patent 3,384,376 PRACTICE GOLF PUTTER Andrew M. Greenlee, 605 Hammond, Red Oak, Iowa 51566 Filed Jan. 12, 1965, Ser. No. 424,994 7 Claims. (Cl..273164) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A practice golf putter having a striking pin extending from the striking face of the putter head, the pin being blunt on its outer end and having a striking surface substantially smaller in area than the head of the striking face and a substantially smaller cross-sectional dimension than boththe length and the height of the head striking face. A guide member may be detachably secured to each end of the head by the head being received in a notch in the bottom side of the guide member, the guide members being in parallel relationship to each other and to the pin thereby defining between the guide members a I portion of a track over which the golf ball moves upon being hit by thepin on the striking face of the club head. A pin may extend from the rear face of the head in axial alignment with the striking pin and thereby provide a line of sight through the golf ball to the putting hole.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide a practice golf putter which will enable the user to quickly establish the position in which the golf putter should be held to hit the ball along a line extending to the golf hole.

Another object of this invention is to provide a golf putter having means which upon hitting the golf ball will exaggerate the error in positioning of the golf club if it has not been correctly aligned with the ball and the hole.

A still further related object of this invention is to provide a practice golf putter which has means for defining a portion of a path along which the golf ball is intended to travel in its course to the hole.

Another related object of this invention is to provide a practice golf putter having means for contacting the golf ball which is blunt and therefore readily deflects the ball upon being hit.

A further object of this invention is to provide a practice golf putter which is simple in design, economicalto manufacture and refined in appearance.-

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

This invention consists in the construction, arrangements, and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth, specifically pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the practice golf putter of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the golf putter of this invention in use on a putting green;

FIG. 3 is an end elevation view of a golf putter and golf ball illustrating the relationship therebetween;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a modified practice golf putter; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the modified practice golf putter of FIG. 4 in use.

The practice golf putter of this invention is referred to generally in FIG. 1 by the reference numeral 10 and is shown to include a shaft 12 with a club head 14 at its lower end. In FIG. 2, a handle 16 is shown grasped by the hands of a golfer 18.

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The club head of the putter 10 is illustrated having a toe portion 20 and a heel portion 22. A ball striking face 24 and a rear face 26 extend along the length of the putter head 14.

As best illustrated in FIG. 3, a cylindrical in crosssection pin 28 extends through the putter head intermediate its ends. The pin 28 has a portion 30 extending from the rear putter face 26 and a portion 32 extending perpendicularly from the striking forward face 24. It is apparent that the pin 28 has :a longitudinal axis which is perpendicular to the striking face 24. The pin 28 is disposed vertically above the lower surface of the putter head 14 a sufi'icient distance such that the club may be freely swung for the pin portion 22 to engage a golf ball 34 (FIG. 3) at its horizontal center.

In use as illustrated in FIG. 2, the pin 28 forms a line of sight referred to by the letter A which is visually aligned with a line of sight referred to by the letter ,B extending from the end of the pin portion 32 to the golf ball 34. Each of the lines of sight A and B are also aligned with a third line of sight referred to at C extending between the ball and the center of the hole 36 in the practice green 40. Thus as indicated in FIG. 2, the golfer 18 can establish through the use of this invention a straight line perpendicular to the striking face 24 of the putter head 14 which extends along the longitudinal axis of the pin 28 through the ball 34 and terminates with the center of the golf hole 36.

It is also apparent that if an error in alignment has been made that the relatively small in diameter pin 28 will upon contact with the ball 34 cause it to deflect off course in an exaggerated manner as compared to the deflection caused by hitting the striking face 24 of the putter head 14. Accordingly the mistake will be more easily recognized and the appropriate correction can be made. It is also to be appreciated that the pin portion 32 has a blunt or fiat striking end surface 42 which will eliminate any possible penetration into the golf ball 34.

In FIGS. 4 and 5 the golf putter with the pin 28 is referred to generally by the reference numeral 10A as it has been modified by the addition of a pair of guide plates 50 and 52 at opposite ends of the putter head 22. The pin 28 is positioned alon a center line between the guide plates 50 and 52 and the guide plates are spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the diameter of the hole 36 such that a ball track pattern 54 may be established by the golfer. The guide plates 50 and 52 are provided with notches 54 for detachable engagement on the toe and heel portions 20 and 22 of the club head 14. A resilient plastic material for example may be used in forming the guide plates 50 and 52. The forward end edges 56 are tapered to a relatively sharp edge to better define the ball path 54.

Thus it is seen that by employing the practice golf putter 10 of this invention as illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 or with the additional modified guide plates of FIGS. 4 and 5, the golfer is clearly better able to improve his golf putting since he will learn to establish a mental picture of the straight line extending perpendicularly from the striking face of the golf putter through the ball and to the hole and moreover if his judgment is incorrect and he hits the ball on either side of its center line extending to the hole the ball will veer off at an exaggerated angle from the case where the putter striking surface alone hits the ball.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of my practice golf putter without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

1. In a practice golf putter, comprising a head having a striking face and a rear face, a shaft connected to said head and handle means associated with said shaft, a striking pin means extending from said striking face and extending along a straight line substantially perpendicular to the striking face, said pin being blunt on its outer end and having a striking surface, and said striking surface being substantially smaller in area than said head striking face, the maximum cross-sectional dimension of said strik ing surface being substantially less than both the length and height of said head striking face and substantially less than the diameter of a conventional golf ball and pin means extending from said rear face to define with said striking pin means a line of sight perpendicular to said striking face.

2. In a practice golf putter, comprising a head having a striking face, a shaft connected to said head and handle means associated with said shaft, a centrally located striking pin means extending from said striking face and extending along a straight line substantially perpendicular to the striking face, said striking pin having a striking surface being significantly less than one-half the diameter of a conventional golf ball and sufficiently small in area such that the edge of said striking surface of said pin will make contact with the golf ball when the plane of the striking surface of the pin is slightly deviant from parallel relationship with the tangential line at the point of contact between the ball and the striking surface.

3. In a practice golf putter, comprising a head having a striking face and a rear face, a shaft connected to said head and handle means associated with said shaft, a pin means extending from said striking face and said rear face, and extending along a straight line substantially prependicular to the striking face, andguide members secured to each end of the head, each guide'membe'r extending" outwardly from the striking face of said club in parallel relationship to said pin means and thereby defining between said guide members a portion of a track over which a golf ball should move upon being hit by said pin means on the striking face of the club head.

4. The structure of claim 3 wherein'said guide members are detachably secured to each end of'the head.

5. The structure of claim 4 wherein each guide member has portions extending substantially equal distances from said striking face.

6. The structure of claim 5 wherein said pin means is disposed on a line substantially at the center of the travel path defined by said guide members, and each of said guide members includes a notch intermediate its ends, and said club head is frictionally and detachably positioned in said notch.

7. The structure of claim 5 wherein said guide members are spaced apart substantially the same distance as the diameter of a golf ball hole.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,652,404 12/1927 Graveure 273-164 3,021,141 2/1962 Polsky et al 273-162 X 3,039,776 6/l962 Faini 273l64 3,194,564 7/1965 Swan 273-164 X 3,198,525 8/1965 Smith 273163 FOREIGN PATENTS 325,744 2/ 1930 Great Britain.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner.

R. I. APLEY, Assistant Examiner. 

